An emergency landing left Virgin passengers stranded overnight in a small airport as the airline said all hotel rooms were fully booked.

The plane was travelling from Heathrow to New York on Saturday when it was forced to make an emergency landing at Gander Airport after a “technical fault”. More than 250 passengers were left at the small Canadian airport in Newfoundland overnight until the relief flight to New York John F. Kennedy departed at 16:55 local time on Sunday.

A message on the airline’s Twitter account said: “Unfortunately, hotels in the local area are full – and despite our best efforts we’ve been unable to get any for customers or staff. Apologies for this.”

A Virgin spokeswoman said: “All passengers and crew remained at Gander overnight on 17th August and a replacement aircraft took them to their destination the following day (18th August).

“The airline would like to thank passengers for their patience and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Due to the exceptional circumstances, as a gesture of goodwill we are offering all passengers a complimentary return flight with Virgin Atlantic for use at a later date.”